Halftime Report: "My Spring Day"

Now that MBC’s My Spring Day is halfway through its run, let’s check in and see how it’s doing!

The good:

• All of the couples (past, present, and future) have a nice, easy chemistry. This is reassuring to me as a viewer, because it means that no matter how the final pairings end up, I’ll be happy.
• Lee Bom Yi (Sooyoung) is a really appealing lead character. She has an interesting balance between innocence and wisdom, and Sooyoung makes her and her struggles completely believable

• Hyun Seung Min, who plays Kang Dong Ha (Kam Woo Sung)’s daughter Poo Reun, is only fifteen, but she’s wonderful. She perfectly shows how this girl can act as a mother figure to her younger brother even as she desperately wants a mother of her own.

• The scenes shot on Udo are amazing — this drama makes me want to jump on a plane and move there.

• Jang Shin Young, as the hospital administrator Bae Ji Won, is so great—she takes the typical cold, ambitious career-woman type and infuses her with a real humanity and humor, balanced by just enough regret to make me really feel for her.

The not-so-good:

• As good as Jang Shin Young is, she’s usually in about two scenes each episode. I would love for her to be a bigger part of the story.
• This drama is very emotional and atmospheric, which is not always a bad thing, but after eight episodes of our central love triangle staring sadly at each other, I’m ready for something to happen. If the plot could move just a bit quicker, I’d be really happy!

• I have very confused feelings about the way the heart transplant is handled. I know that the drama is centered around the fact that Bom Yi’s heart used to belong to Dong Ha’s wife, Yoon Soo Jung (played in flashbacks by Min Ji Ah). But the way this story is being told makes me really uncertain about Bom Yi’s motivations. The thing is, I can see the reasons why Bom Yi would fall for Dong Ha, even though he’s eighteen years older than her. I can also see how they are a very compatible couple—they get along well, they complement each other well, and Bom Yi has a great relationship with Dong Ha’s children. But certain storytelling choices (for example: the mannerisms of Soo Jung’s that Bom Yi has adopted, and the recurring dream where Soo Jung sort of turns into Bom Yi) make me unsure whether it’s Bom Yi who is in love with Dong Ha, or just the part of Soo Jung that is in her. That makes me uncomfortable. I wish the drama were more clear about this—and I especially hope that it becomes clear that it is Bom Yi herself who is in love with Dong Ha.

What do you think? Are you enjoying “My Spring Day”? Do you agree with me about the weirdness of the heart-transplant storyline, or am I overreacting? If you have thoughts, please post them in the comments!

[tv]Watch My Spring Day on SoompiTV![/tv]